It has long been known to be a frustrating experience to use a shopping cart without brakes. Consumers who often take small children to the store have trouble unloading a cart as it often rolls on inclines or turns away from the vehicle making unloading the cart very frustrating. Additionally, the carts can roll into cars and cause substantial damage. Previously, other brakes have been used for caster wheels to prevent the wheels from rolling.
It would be advantageous to provide a device for a frustrated consumer to allow unloading a shopping cart without it rolling away and for parking the cart when not in use. It would be especially advantageous to have a shopping cart brake which could be used easily by the consumer so children and products could be unloaded from the cart without the cart causing damage to a vehicle, or rolling away. Many attempts have been made to produce brakes for caster wheels, but an improved design is needed for shopping cart brakes.
One attempt to produce a brake for caster wheels is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,493,085 issued Feb. 3, 1970 to Libhart. A positive locking caster brake is disclosed which is operated by a foot lever, which when depressed forces a pivoted brake shoe onto the wheel surface which touches the ground. The foot lever forces a brake into an overcenter position which pivots inwardly to apply braking pressure to the caster wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,358,792 issued Dec. 19, 1967 to Proulx discloses a caster brake which has the brake mechanism mounted inside the caster horn mechanism and causes a cam to engage at least one plate which applies braking force to a wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,298,467 issued Jan. 17, 1967 to Darnell discloses a caster brake for engaging the wheel surface which touches the ground. The brake is a one-piece plate projecting outwardly from the top of the caster above the wheel. The plate has a pair of generally parallel splits separating the plate into two outward portions with a tongue in between for catching into a resiliently penetrable tire.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,239,873 issued Mar. 15, 1966 to Fisher discloses a caster brake which brakes the wheel against rotation about its axis and pivotal movement about a vertical axis. A braking member applies force to the wheel surface which touches the ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,653 issued Jan. 14, 1964 to Altherr discloses a brake mechanism for a shopping cart. The brake is applied to two rear wheels of the cart simultaneously. The brake element is a bolt which is attached to a mounting apparatus and the bolt is positioned against the wheel by means of two nuts and contacts the wheel surface which touches the ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,512,941 issued Jun. 27, 1950 to Johnson discloses a locking type caster which includes a single lock for stopping both radial and pivotal movement for scaffolds. A brake lever pivots the caster wheel against a pivot causing the tire to bear against a caster housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,998,236 issued Apr. 16, 1935 to Herold discloses a brake for casters which frictionally engages the periphery of the wheel surface which touches the ground. This brake has a ratchet design for engaging the braking member.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,731,312 issued Oct. 15, 1929 to Matheson discloses a caster and brake. The braking member contacts the wheel surface which touches the ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,632,435 issued Jun. 14, 1927 to Darnell discloses a swivel caster with a brake and lock. The brake grips the side plates of the wheel to stop the wheel from moving.
None of the above designs of caster or cart wheel brakes is ideal for shopping carts. Either the brake wears down the outer surface of the wheel and abrades it or the brake is cumbersome and/or leas than ideally effective.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved shopping cart brake.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved shopping cart brake that does not act upon and wear down the outer surface of the cart wheel.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved shopping cart brake that applies adjustable force to the side of the cart wheel and that can be released by merely moving the cart to the rear and that can be released without positive operator action upon the brake.